All Roll Calls
Yes: 125 • No: 12
IowaHF 270691st General Assembly (2025–2026)HouseWALLET
A bill for an act relating to judicial officers, including magistrate appointments in judicial election districts, senior magistrates, and judicial officer compensation, and including effective date provisions. (Formerly HSB 722.) Effective date: 07/01/2026, 11/01/2026, 06/18/2027.
Sponsored By: COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Signed by Governor
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
9 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 7 mixed.
Serving magistrates get priority and limits
Four-year magistrate terms start a new cycle on August 1, 2027. For that term, applicants who served in the preceding term receive appointment priority. All priority applicants must be appointed when openings equal or exceed their number; otherwise, only priority applicants can be appointed. This priority rule ends July 31, 2031. Beginning July 1, 2026, magistrates reaching age 78 with less than half their term left can finish it, but cannot be reappointed.
Higher pay for Iowa judicial officers
Starting with the June 18, 2027 pay period, judicial officers other than magistrates receive a 5% salary increase. The increase uses salary rates in effect July 1, 2026. Magistrates receive 40% of a district associate judge’s salary after that increase. Judicial branch funds cover these costs. The law also removes a former statutory qualification on magistrate salaries set by the legislature.
Senior magistrates get pay and insurance
Beginning July 1, 2026, qualifying retirees appointed as senior magistrates receive salary set by the legislature. The law lists $4,234 for each senior magistrate but does not state how often it is paid. The state provides medical insurance and eligible expense reimbursements at the rates for active magistrates. Senior magistrates choosing judicial-branch health coverage must arrange payment of their employee share.
Local hearings review out-of-state officer arrests
Beginning November 1, 2026, out-of-state officers making covered arrests in Iowa must bring arrested people before a local magistrate. They must do so without unnecessary delay, in the county where the arrest occurred. The magistrate holds a hearing on whether the arrest was lawful.
Retired magistrates gain limited service roles
Beginning July 1, 2026, eligible retiring magistrates can seek senior appointments from the Iowa Supreme Court. They must retire on or after that date and file within six months after retirement, without seeking active reappointment. Eligibility requires age 62 and eight years of service, or 20 years of service before the program’s effective date. Appointments are discretionary, last two years, and require evidence that no permanent disability at retirement substantially interferes with assigned duties. Service is capped at five weeks per 12-month period. Service generally ends after the 12-month period in which the magistrate turns 84; one-year reappointments can continue through age 86. Senior magistrates can also practice law within Iowa’s judicial conduct rules.
Counties must provide magistrates security support
Iowa counties must provide bailiff and other law enforcement services when a magistrate in the county requests them. This extends support already available to the listed judges. The law states no new funding amount for this duty.
Courts can swap judicial staffing roles
A district associate judge can replace magistrate positions without the former three-magistrate minimum or resident-judge requirement. The change requires Supreme Court approval and a majority vote of judges in each affected district finding improved timeliness and efficiency. Each substituted judge reduces the district’s magistrate allocation by one. Chief judges can also substitute magistrates for a district associate judge without requiring exactly three magistrates. Orders must reach the affected commission chairs and governor by May 31 of the year they take effect. If most district judges later reject the magistrate arrangement, those positions end after their terms and the associate judgeship returns.
New commissions choose Iowa magistrates
Beginning January 1, 2027, each district’s appointing commission includes a district judge and one county-appointed member per county. Attorney seats total one fewer than county-appointed seats; both groups serve six-year terms. Eligible attorneys in the district or neighboring counties elect attorney members in December, with candidate petitions due November 30. These election rules take effect November 1, 2026. Too few qualified, willing attorneys can leave fewer attorney seats filled without changing county membership. Members cannot become magistrates or vote on appointments involving specified relatives or current law or business partners. Each member’s home county pays certified expenses that are actual, necessary, and reasonable for commission work.
Workload guides where Iowa magistrates serve
The Iowa Supreme Court must set a magistrate workload formula that includes travel and duties outside individual cases. The state court administrator uses it to divide magistrate positions among districts. The law removes the statewide total of 206 and the guarantee of one resident magistrate per county. Missing March 31 notice in a term-expiration year keeps the existing allocation through the next terms. Until August 1, 2027, chief judges can assign district magistrates to cover qualifying vacancies that cannot be filled. They can cover the remaining term in another county, with combined weighted workload capped at 33% of one full-time position.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 4/7/2026
Passed Senate
Yes: 41 • No: 4
House vote • 4/1/2026
Passed House
Yes: 84 • No: 8
Actions Timeline
Fiscal note.
6/2/2026legislatureSigned by Governor.
4/30/2026HouseReported correctly enrolled, signed by Speaker and President, and sent to Governor.
4/30/2026HouseMessage from Senate.
4/7/2026HouseImmediate message.
4/7/2026SenatePassed Senate, yeas 41, nays 4.
4/7/2026SenateSubstituted for SF 2401.
4/7/2026SenateFiscal note.
4/6/2026legislatureRead first time, attached to SF 2401.
4/2/2026SenateMessage from House.
4/2/2026SenateImmediate message.
4/1/2026HousePassed House, yeas 84, nays 8.
4/1/2026HouseAmendment H-8278 adopted.
4/1/2026HouseFiscal note.
4/1/2026legislatureAmendment H-8278 filed.
3/31/2026HousePlaced on calendar under unfinished business.
3/19/2026HouseIntroduced, placed on calendar.
2/23/2026House
Bill Text
As Introduced
Enrolled
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